On global warming, the science is solid

In recent months, e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in the United Kingdom and errors in one of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s reports have caused a flurry of questions about the validity of climate change science.

These issues have led several states, including Texas, to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide (also known as greenhouse gases) are a threat to human health.

However, Texas’ challenge to the EPA’s endangerment finding on carbon dioxide contains very little science. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott admitted that the state did not consult any climate scientists, including the many here in the state, before putting together the challenge to the EPA. Instead, the footnotes in the document reveal that the state relied mainly on British newspaper articles to make its case.

Contrary to what one might read in newspapers, the science of climate change is strong. Our own work and the immense body of independent research conducted around the world leaves no doubt regarding the following key points: (more…)

A new study published in the prestigious journal Science based on “the most extensive computer modeling of storm activity to date” indicates that though the overall number of Atlantic storms will likely fall 30% by the end of the century, the number of powerful Cat. 4 and 5 storms could increase by 81%. As someone who has lived on the Gulf Coast, this information is a pretty huge cause for concern. Usually when you hear that a big storm is coming, you can at least rest easy until you know its going to be a bad one — no need to batten down the hatches for a tropical storm. Looks as though that luxury will soon be lost.

Then at a conference at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, weather researchers announced that

climate change will likely increase the frequency and severity of storm activity in Texas, an area of the country that is especially vulnerable to the “triple threat” of hurricanes, hail storms and tornadoes

Dr. Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said that straight-line winds, which are created when areas of high and low pressure collide, will increasingly become a greater threat to structures such as homes and businesses.

As evidence mounts about the negative impacts of climate change, we can only hope that Texas lawmakers and decision-makers will come to see the desperate need for comprehensive legislation to mitigate these effects.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.